Socialism: How Are We Heading Towards It? With Rabbi Lapin:

Socialism: How Are We Heading Towards It? With Rabbi Lapin: Rabbi Lapin joins us today to give us an introduction to a presentation of his from the Pro-Family Legislators Conference. We’ll be looking at some ways that America is moving towards socialism and talking about how we can counter that! Tune in now to learn more!

Transcription note: As a courtesy for our listeners’ enjoyment, we are providing a transcription of this podcast. Transcription will be released shortly. However, as this is transcribed from a live talk show, words and sentence structure were not altered to fit grammatical, written norms in order to preserve the integrity of the actual dialogue between the speakers. Additionally, names may be misspelled or we might use an asterisk to indicate a missing word because of the difficulty in understanding the speaker at times. We apologize in advance.

Faith And The Culture

Rick:

Welcome to the intersection of faith and the culture. This is WallBuilders Live! Where we talk about today’s hottest topics on policy, faith, and the culture. Always from a biblical, historical, and constitutional perspective.

You can find out more about us at WallBuilders.com, that’s our radio website. That’s where you can get a list of our stations across the country. You can also find out more about all of us on the program. Myself, Rick Green, I’m a former Texas legislator. David Barton is America’s premier historian and the founder of WallBuilders. Tim Barton’s a national speaker and pastor, and president of WallBuilders.

And then also on the website there at WallBuildersLive.com, you can get some of the archives the program. That means you can go back to some of the previous weeks and we have kind of a neat schedule throughout the week. Monday through Wednesday we have really great interviews with US senators and congressmen, and state legislators, and attorneys that are battling before the Supreme Court or in district courts across the country protecting religious liberty. So,metimes it’s a community activist – somebody just like yourself that’s made a difference in their community. Those are our Monday through Wednesday programs typically.

And then on Thursdays we have what we call Foundations of Freedom Thursday. It’s a chance for you to ask questions and we dive into the founding principles to answer those questions. In fact, if you’d like to send some questions in, send them to [email protected], that’s [email protected] And then of course Friday’s, that’s maybe our most popular day of the week because it’s Good News Friday most weeks and that’s an opportunity for David and Tim to catch us up on a lot of the victories across the country. All of that is available at WallBuildersLive.com.

And then at WallBuilders.com, our main website, that’s where you’ll find a wealth of information for your family, your church, Sunday school, it might be curriculum for your local homeschool co-op, or just getting people together to study the Constitution. You can learn how to become a constitutional host or coach in your community. You can be the one that brings people over and educates them on these founding principles by simply putting in the programs that we’ve got on DVD. If you can hit play, you can help educate folks in your community on these wonderful principles upon which our nation was founded.

So, That We Can Be Free

Rick:

Now, later in today’s program we’re going to have Rabbi Daniel Lapin with us. He was just at the Pro-Family Legislators Conference where we bring in legislators from across the country and give them a chance to share with each other, sharpen each other’s countenance, hear from some great speakers like Rabbi Lapin. It’s really a great time of rejuvenation for those folks that are on kind of the frontlines of freedom. They’re in the state legislative halls across the country fighting for our founding principles, fighting for biblical worldview. They’re doing the right thing so that we can have freedom, so that we can have policies that produce freedom.

So, we’ve started about, I guess it’s been 10 or 12 years ago, we started bringing them together once a year and giving them this great opportunity to share with each other and sharpen each other’s countenance. And we just had the 2018 conference, state legislators came in from across the nation, it was really a great time and the presentations were so good, so powerful. We want to bring some of those to you our listeners on WallBuilders Live and we’re doing that with Rabbi Daniel Lapin this week. So, we’re going to have him on the program live today and then we’re going to share his presentation over the next few days. It’s just fantastic information.

Be sure and visit his website today as well, YouNeedARabbi.com is the website. I love that name, YouNeedARabbi.com. And believe me, you’re going to learn so much from Rabbi Lapin both today and throughout this week. But also if you go to his website and get some of those great materials.

Last thing before we go to Rabbi Lapin, as you know if you’re a listener to WallBuilders Live, we are a listener supported program. So, the way that we’re able to bring you folks like Rabbi Lapin and so many other great guests on the program is because of our listeners supporting and donating. Our founding fathers pledged lives, fortunes, and sacred honor.

Lives, Fortunes, Sacred Honor

Rick:

So, yes, it takes us giving a little bit of our lives, that’s our our time, maybe to listen to this program, to study the Constitution, to share with others. It takes our fortunes. That means donating to good candidates out there that are going to stand for the right things. It means donating to good causes. And one of those is, of course, WallBuilders. Your donations allow us to do what we do, allow us to educate the nation on founding principles.

It’s what fuels our programs for training young leaders, for taking pastors to Washington D.C. and giving them a chance to see the Judeo Christian foundations of our country. All the different things that WallBuilders does, it’s because of our donors that that’s even possible. So, if you enjoy WallBuilders Live, if you like listening to these interviews and you like the programs that we bring to you, we would ask that you support us to be able to do that. So, you can do that today at WallBuilders.com or WallBuildersLive.com, go to the donation button.

And maybe it’s a monthly donation. Maybe as we get to the end of the year it’s a one time end of the year donation, but we would sure appreciate your support. It makes it possible for us to do this.

We’re going to take a quick break. When we come back Rabbi Daniel Lapin is our special guest.

Join Us In Israel!

Hey guys what are you doing January 28th through February 7th? If you said you don’t know, let me give you an idea. We are going to Israel. Rick Green, my dad, David Barton, Tim Barton, our families are going and we would love for you to go with us. We are going to the Holy Land if you’ve ever been to Israel this is something as a Christian that will make you forever read your bible differently.

To see where Jesus walked, where He lived, where He did miracles, where so much of the Bible took place. If you’ve ever read through the Bible and you’ve given it a mental picture, the mental picture will not do justice of what happens when you’re actually on the ground. If you’ve ever thought about the story of David and Goliath and you’ve envisioned what it looks like, we’re going to go to the actual field where it took place.

There are so many things that you will see that literally makes the Bible come to life. In fact, that’s the name of the tour group we’re going with is The Bible Comes to Life. Go to CMJacksboro.com. You can click on the link, it has an Israel itinerary, all kinds of details. Hope to see you on this trip this coming year.

Rick:

Welcome back to WallBuilders Live! Thanks for staying with us. Rabbi Daniel Lapin back with us. Always good to have you, Rabbi, thanks for your time today.

Rabbi Daniel Lapin:

Thank you very much indeed. Great to be together.

Rick:

Well, and special thanks for coming out to the legislators conference once again. You’re always a big hit with legislators and just give great information and sow into those folks that are on the frontlines of our wonderful constitutional republic. So, thanks for your time at that as well.

Rabbi Daniel Lapin:

And it felt like an outstanding conference this year. Each year seems to get better and better. I just, I truly can’t understand why any legislator– and they all have a tough job– And to miss an opportunity of this kind of rejuvenation, and encouragement, and fellowship, with like minded people in the same sort of battle. It’s a great, great, great, occasion.

The Movement Toward Socialism

Rick:

Well, one of the things folks were talking about was was your presentation because there is such a movement toward socialism in the country. And I think sometimes we feel ill equipped to counter that. How do we respond to people that are– they think they’re doing the right moral thing. They’re advocating for socialism because they think it will be better.

And you just laid out the history and the facts. First about Christendom and and how all the great societies and wonderful benefits we have came from our Christian foundations as a nation and the biblical foundations of our of our nation. And then you explained the difference between socialism and our system of freedom.

So, in our short time together on radio we wanted to get a little bit of the highlights from you and then we’re going to share your presentation with our listeners a little later. But what did you want to get across to these legislators? Because you knew they were facing these kind of challenges back home in their legislative bodies.

Rabbi Daniel Lapin:

What I was focusing on, again, obviously, I wanted to be absolutely as helpful to them as I could. I wanted to be absolutely sure that the time they invested in listening to me would give them a return on the investment that made the whole thing very, very, worthwhile. And for me that meant equipping them with at least some new piece for their arsenal, some new piece of intellectual ammunition, that would help them both in terms of strengthening their own will, and determination, and courage, and belief. While at the same time, also provide them with talking points.

And basically, the way I always think about it is it’s just for Thanksgiving dinner and it’s your brother in law who disagrees with you on absolutely every single issue. What are some things you can say that would at one in the same time not destroy the forthcoming family Thanksgiving dinner.

Rick:

Right.

“Wow, I Never Thought of That”

Rabbi Daniel Lapin:

But at the same time would make him raise his eyebrows and say, “Wow, I never thought of that.”

Rick:

Oh, that’s great, that’s great. Well, our listeners just had Thanksgiving dinner and now a couple of weeks later they’re going to have a Christmas gathering, so let’s equip them as well. What would you say to them if they’re about to sit down with a family member that is advocating for socialism and the further erosion of our constitutional republic? What would be your couple of one liners they could– or questions, I guess, they could ask?

Rabbi Daniel Lapin:

Well, I would say first of all, I would say don’t use the word “socialism”. Avoid the word socialism. Because other than a few hard core leftists, some of whom won election to Congress not long ago, but with the exception of hardcore leftists most people recoil from the term socialism. They don’t feel comfortable embracing that. They feel American, they feel patriotic Americans, and they just feel that certain things are needed at this time.

And these things range from free tuition for students, it ranges all the way to a universal basic income. And there are a lot of smart people who think this way that you’ve got to guarantee every American with a certain basic income regardless, and redistribution, and higher taxation, and single payer medical visits.

In other words, there are a lot of well-intentioned people–

Rick:

Yeah.

Rabbi Daniel Lapin:

–who really believe in the depths of the heart that these are things that are needed in America today. We’ve got to raise taxes to solve the homeless, we’ve got to raise taxes to improve public education, we’ve got to raise taxes to provide a universal basic income, we’ve got to raise taxes so we can do away with fossil fuels. A lot of these things are beliefs that people hold and convictions they hold. And I might recognize them as sharing common features with socialism, but most of the people themselves don’t feel that way.

Providing a Common Denominator

Rabbi Daniel Lapin:

So, what what I tried to do at that great Pro-Family Legislators Conference that I was so happy to be invited to, was to provide a common denominator. Can I give an example?

Rick:

Yes, please, yes.

Rabbi Daniel Lapin:

Well, imagine somebody wakes up, let’s say in Los Angeles, one morning and they notice that the bookcase had fallen over and all the things in the bookcase were strewn over the floor. And they’re little puzzled. They walk into the next room and they see stuff that was on a shelf has tumbled off and most stuff’s on the floor. And they really are baffled. And they go out for a morning stroll and they see a freeway bridge is collapsed and they go, “Oh my goodness.”

They say, “What a string of coincidences, what a morning. First in my house these things fell and now there’s been a collapse of a freeway bridge.” Somewhere else they look and they see a fire going, somewhere else they see a fire hydrant broken, and water shooting up into the air. And they see these as totally disconnected random events.

And it’s not until somebody comes up to them and says, “Hey, while you asleep there was a 7.2 earthquake. Something happened that caused all of these events. They are not accidental, coincidental, random, events that had nothing to do with one another.”

So, I wanted to try and show that that there is an incredibly seductive pull toward socialism even if people don’t recognize it as socialism. And secondly, that all of these things have a single unifying explanation. The very same people who, shall we say, are in favor of expanding abortion, are the same people who are against capital punishment. And the same people who are interested in expanding the homosexual, and the trans sexual, and the whole non-sexual agenda, well, those people are the same people who happen to at the same time push for radical environmental changes, and the abolition of the use of energy, and so on and so forth. So, these similarities are really important to understand.

Rick:

Yeah.

When You Don’t Grasp the Battlefield…

Rabbi Daniel Lapin:

Because when you don’t know — when you don’t grasp the battlefield it’s hard to fight an effective war.

Rick:

Right. Right. No doubt about it. You explain it exactly right. And I think that’s one thing that we seem to miss. Folks that come from a more conservative, constitutional, perspective we don’t believe that that the other side actually believes these things and that they have a– in their mind it’s a moral perspective and a moral position for them to advocate for these things. So, we assume the worst instead of saying, “Wait a minute, they really believe this.” What we need to be working on is how to show them what actually works, and what doesn’t work, and what gets good results.

Rabbi Daniel Lapin:

And we also have to remember and help people understand that any time you use the word “moral” it needs a qualifier.

Rick:

Yeah.

Rabbi Daniel Lapin:

The word “moral” by itself doesn’t mean anything. Because the 9/11 terrorists who caused such horrendous damage to America in 2001 were acting morally according to Rick:

And one of the reasons is that socialism enjoys an advantage of, let’s say, family values or conservatism. One of the reasons socialism enjoys an advantage is because it includes a moral system. And that’s why even the word “socialism”–you care about society obviously. And our view is that there isn’t even such a thing as society. What they are are 300 million aspirational human beings all living their own lives hopefully in freedom and in tranquility.

We’re not trying to organize them, we’re not community organizers. We promote freedom. And it’s very, very, difficult because the other side is filled with commitments of what we will do for society and our side basically says, “Well, we’ll try and keep government out of your way so you can do for yourself.”

Rick:

And theirs sounds like it will make more of a difference faster.

Rabbi Daniel Lapin:

Yes. It sounds– increasingly it becomes a very difficult sell land. And my point was that none of this used to be true when conservatism and pro family policies were linked to their Judeo Christian biblical origins. But ever since we attempted to sever that connection and structure a thing called conservatism all on its own– it’s a little bit like taking a beautiful flower of the rosebush, and bringing it inside, and putting it in a vase on your table. It looks great for a day or two, but then it starts to wilt.

Putting an Accountant Against a Crusader

Rabbi Daniel Lapin:

Well, conservatism was disconnected from its Judeo Christian origin round about the 1960s approximately. And at this point it’s a collection of policies. It’s not a morality, it’s not a belief system, it’s not– basically we’re putting an accountant against a crusader. When we put conservatism against socialism.

Rick:

Oh, that’s good. Oh, that’s good. And that’s so true, it’s that separation. It’s like we’re getting rid of the very engine that drives the result we want hoping to get the results. So, we talk about the result, we talk about why these principles or these policies will produce that result, but we don’t talk about where they come from or the value system.

How do you address the origins? How do you put the Judeo Christian value system into the discussion when there’s so much pushback right now against any sort of religious foundation and the culture is running so hard from that?

Rabbi Daniel Lapin:

I think– part of it I think is that we– and this is what I would say to my pesky brother in law at a Thanksgiving dinner, or at a Holiday festival dinner, and I’d say, “Look, don’t be hung up with the idea that “religion” just means Christianity, or Judaism, or Islam.

There are other religions, so let’s talk about what distinguishes a religion from a tennis club. And one of the differences is that only a religion provides answers to transcendent questions. For instance, where did we come from? How did human beings arrive on this planet?

My tennis club couldn’t care less, but all religions do all answer that question. They also answer the question of what are we supposed to be doing with our lives, and how’s it all going to come to an end if it will? And you don’t– Judaism and Christianity all answer those questions.

But, my dear brother in law, what you have to understand is that there is another religion. It has become the state religion of the United States of America. It’s a religion promoted on the college campus, it’s a religion promoted in politics and entertainment, and it’s a religion called “secular fundamentalism” and it has been concealed from you in a way that is a disservice. And I’m here to discuss with you the aspect that will make it clearer to you or anyone else that we are actually talking about a religion here. The religion of secular fundamentalism. And it comes with a sacred sacraments and one of them is redistribution of wealth, and higher taxation, and the idea that healthcare is a government function etc. etc.

The Right Question

Rabbi Daniel Lapin:

And I think once people can grasp this rather revolutionary idea that it is a comprehensive belief system, it’s another religion, now the only question is, “Which religion is more effective? Not the question of, “Well, are we going to pose a sinister, religious, theocracy, against a benign and benevolent secularism?” No, it’s not a benign and benevolent secularism. It’s a secularism with very fervent beliefs, it’s a secularism with religious fanatics in its ranks, and its two competing and incompatible religious faiths.

Rick:

That is so good.

Rabbi Daniel Lapin:

I’d say to my brother in law, “I know that when I say the pledge I say, ‘One nation under God indivisible’, but I don’t believe that anymore. We’re not one nation under God. We’re two nations in America.

Rick:

Yeah, no, that’s true and knowing what you’ve just done is you’ve done the same thing as with the word “moral”. You’ve given a qualifier to the word “religion” to make it clear what the landscape is and the opposing views are. Rabbi Lapin, we’re out of time for today. I’ve got to– I really encourage people go to the website, YouNeedARabbi.com. There is a wealth of material there that will absolutely equip and inspire you. Fantastic stuff.

And we’re going to share more of Rabbi Lapin’s presentation from the legislators conference, but even that he was limited on time. So make sure you go get the full program – especially Tower of Power. Check that one out at YouNeedARabbi.com. There is a wealth of other information as well. Rabbi, God bless you, sir. Thank you so much for your time once again.

Rabbi Daniel Lapin:

Thank you, Rick. Thanks for having me at the conference. It was really an uplifting experience.

Rick:

Always good to have you, sir. Thanks for being on stay with us, folks. We’ll be right back on WallBuilders Live.

Front Sight Training Course

Rick Green here, from WallBuilders Live. What do Dennis Prager, Larry Elder, Ben Shapiro, Rick Greene, Tim Barton, David Barton, have in common other than the fact that they’re conservative commentators that defend the Constitution?

They’re raving about Front Sight Firearms Training Institute. Go to my website right now at RickGreen.com. You can watch the video of Dennis Prager training at Front Sight, or Larry Elder, or Tim Barton and myself out there. It’s an opportunity for you to learn how to defend yourself and your family. It is a fantastic place to train. They train 30 to 40,000 people a year, and they’re just wonderful to work with. You can go with us. We’re headed back out.

We’re going to have a great time out there, and if you’re a supporter of WallBuilders, we’re going to treat you. If you’re a donor of WallBuilders, you’ll be able to go to this Front Sight class for free. It normally cost a thousand dollars, go to FrontSight.com right now. You’ll see that it’s a thousand dollars to attend their two-day class. You are going to be able to go for free, if you’re a supporter of WallBuilders Live.

So, check out that information at RickGreen.com and join us. We are going once a month for the next three months. You can pick one of those classes. All of our previous classes have filled up. Make sure that you get online today and get signed up. Whether you’ve never shot before, or you’ve shot your whole life, you will enjoy this class. You’ll enjoy the fellowship. We’ll be training on the range during the day and studying the Constitution at night. What a great combination. Check it out today at RickGreen.com

Get In Touch With Your Legislators

Rick:

We’re back on WallBuilders Live! Thanks for staying with us. Special thanks to Rabbi Daniel Lapin for joining us today as well and for being at the legislators conference. I really encourage you to check out his website, YouNeedARabbi.com.

And then also, if you hear this talk about the legislators conferences and you’re thinking, “My state rep, or my state senator, could really benefit from that” then get them the links. Go to WallBuilders.com. If you go to events you’ll see the Pro-Family Legislators Conference there or you can just go to ProFamily.com. That’s our website for the WallBuilders Legislative Network. So, it’s more than just a conference actually, it’s a way to connect state legislators across the country. So, ProFamily.com is the website for that.

In fact, even if you’re not– you don’t want to tell about the conference yet, even just getting them to ProFamily.com gives them a chance to get plugged in with us. I’m telling you, as a former legislator I remember what it was like and many times feeling like you’re on your own. That you’re that you’re standing against the world sometimes. Even when there’s other good legislators in your state, sometimes you just feel like you’re on your own.

So, believe me, this conference, this network, is incredibly beneficial to those state legislators out there that are trying to do the right thing. I encourage you to get this information in their hands. You may not know your state rep or your state senator. I would encourage you to get to know them. Just call them up, send them an email, send their staff an e-mail, and say, “I’d like to come by and have five minutes with my legislator just to meet them and get to know them.”

Socialism: How Are We Heading Towards It? With Rabbi Lapin

They may be like minded, they may not, but you’ll find out. Do little homework, look at their voting record, find out where they are on things, how they’re rated in terms of how they stand on constitutional principles, and you can do a lot of that at iVoterGuide.com, or ChristianVoterGuide.com. You can find out great information on the folks that are in office. But I do encourage you to get to know them and then invite them to the WallBuilders Legislative Network.

Now, our legislative conference is once a year, so we’re a year out now from the next conference, but you can let them know now what they missed out on this year and why they want to start planning for next year. All that information is available at WallBuilders.com.

We sure appreciate you listening today. You’ve been listening to WallBuilders Live.

WALLBUILDERS LIVE! with David Barton, Tim Barton and Rick Green is a daily journey into the past to capture the ideas of the Founding Fathers of America and then apply them to the major issues of today. Featured guests will include Congressmen, Senators, and other elected officials, as well as experts, activists, authors, and commentators on a variety of issues facing America.